Monday, August 3, 2009

'False rape charges ruined my life'

So, it was his daughter who falsely accused him. A frightening scenario. The attitude of the clinical social worker for Childline, Joan van Niekerk is even more so: She said family members often put pressure on a child to change her story, to protect the breadwinner.

Notice how they refer to this 18 year old as a 'girl', and a child, not as an adult. Perhaps if we start treating adults as adults, we wouldn't see these kinds of problems.

An 18-year-old Northdene girl who laid false charges of sexual molestation and rape against her father is now in hot water.

The charges were withdrawn after police found discrepancies and she admitted that she had lied.

The girl was charged with perjury and appeared in the Chatsworth Magistrate's Court last Friday.

The father, a transport controller, who cannot be named, said the incident had turned his whole life upside down.

He now faced the wrath of the community and his family had rejected him."

I have been put under a lot of stress and pressure due to the false accusations by my daughter.

"In the two weeks since the accusations surfaced I have not been living at home, but rather at various family members' homes."

She has put me through an emotional rollercoaster. My family is broken. My wife does not live with me and refuses to talk to me. I am barred from communicating with my son."

He said the community had ostracised him.

He admitted to being "very protective" of his daughter.

He said their relationship deteriorated after she came back from Johannesburg in January. "

She wanted her freedom so badly."

Asked to comment on cases where children retract abuse claims, clinical social worker for Childline, Joan van Niekerk, said that Childline generally investigated, to see if "family pressure resulted in the retraction".

She said family members often put pressure on a child to change her story, to protect the breadwinner.